Another small step

Dear Mum,

You are in fact sitting downstairs with three girlfriends. I am upstairs. Lying on the floor, a bit miserable. A vacant screen glares at me, a cruel reminder that I have not written a single line.

I have been wracking my brains about this script. I’m pretty sure that I had an epiphany moment upon the brink of slumber last night. I remember thinking “YES! It’ll be the next ‘Friends’, the next ‘Miranda’ the next ‘Vicar of Dibley’.

When my alarm clock clanged awake and stirred me from my own slumber, my first thought was “Chocks away! Let’s get this script written.”

But I couldn’t and still can’t think of what struck me as being brilliant as I drifted through limbo. It was probably a load of drivel. Something that one would only think is the next ground-breaking drama when they’re dreaming of lions and tigers and bears (oh my!).

At this present moment, anything is a welcome distraction. Such as playing ‘hide from the parents’ with your friend’s three year old son. I’ve alphabetised my bookshelf, carefully chosen a new photo for my desktop background (one can’t rush into these decisions) and watched a YouTube video of Ryan Gosling breaking up a street fight seven times.

I did what you suggested and drew up a mind map, which was about as illuminating as picking bits of fluff off my cardigan.

No offense is intended. I’ve never found a mind map or spider diagram (whatever name you want to dress it up in) particularly helpful. If anything I find it very prohibiting – seeing my ideas tangled about in lines and arrows, a confusion of conscious contemplation. It’s a reminder that I’m no further in devising a clear plan.

When revising or brainstorming, I’d want points to be carefully listed in bullet points. Perhaps a bit of colour coding, nothing too elaborate. But logical, neat and coherent.

I’ve used this technique instead. I listed any ideas I had. Locations, characters, anecdotes.

I did have a eureka moment when looking at my list and deciding I could probably best write a radio drama or radio sitcom.

In celebration of my break-through I ate a cream egg and watched the video of Ryan Gosling breaking up a street fight. I then checked his IMDB profile. And typed his name into Google images.

A short while later, by Joe, I got it! I don’t know how exactly I arrived at the plot idea. But here I am, surrounded in a world of my own creation. Ideas buzzing around me, tickling me for attention and whispering in my ears.

Well, that’s a bit embroidered. I’ve a few characters in mind, a setting, a premise.   

In Mary Shelley fashion, it’s now thundering outside. Nothing beats a bit of pathetic fallacy to confirm that my new creation, my Frankenstein, is a stroke of dramatic genius.

Or it’s telling me I’m venturing into frightening territory that I should probably avoid. Have I just sealed my own doom...?